Hollywood, city of lights, art and artifice, takes its toll on the lives of those who work there. It is home to plenty of ghost stories, to a sense that there are many bones in its foundations. Perhaps ghosts reflect the price paid, and ghosts are sometimes said to be old screen legends themselves. Here, from the Media History Digital Library, see a 1928 report of the haunting of Rudolph Valentino's beautiful house, Falcon Lair, in Benedict Canyon, two years after the star's death. The house was reported haunted - possibly by Valentino himself - by subsequent inhabitants, and even sat empty for several years. Part of the Falcon Lair compound was the neighbouring property to the house on Cielo Drive in which Sharon Tate was murdered by Charles Manson's followers in August 1969.

Joan Crawford was famously accused by her adopted daughter, Christina, of obsessive, controlling abuse in the 1940s and early 1950s. What is less discussed in relation to this disputed depiction of the star is Christina's assertion that Crawford's house was haunted. Later inhabitants, up to 2005, also claimed that it was haunted:

Extreme punishments involving wire hangers, outbursts, a razor
sharp tongue and a dark shadowy side that the public rarely witnessed.
That tongue now quieted, Joan Crawford's daughter Christina tells of the
dark supernatural events that were naturally drawn in and manifested
themselves within her family home, despite the many exorcisms that were
performed to remove the ornery and cantankerous spirits. The movie Mommy
Dearest rattled the nation with tales so horrendous that even the most
open-minded person questioned the possibilities of such terrifying acts
against innocent children. Joan Crawford was a force to be reckoned with
and her iron fist told volumes when it came to the star's personality.
Not surprisingly, Joan's Brentwood, California home possessed a sea of
rumors where the paranormal was concerned, and reports of haunting
manifestations and exorcisms held in the home came to light in 1989 that
are far too vivid to Christina even still today. Apparitions were
literally everywhere you looked. Frightened by them as a child, there
was no help as Christina and her brother were always shushed. Dark, cold
spots in the home where no frightened child dare to cross were easily
explained away to the children as active imaginations by their mother.
The movie star's strange dealings with the dark side remained up until
her last breath was taken when Christina claims that just before Joan's
death, she spoke to a ghost at the end of her bed, taunting it in her
arrogant way, to dare not ask her for God's help.

Joan
eventually sold the estate and years later it was purchased by a family
that shared similar experiences in the home. Distraught, they sought the
help of the Reverend Rosalyn Bruyere, a family friend who by all
accounts claim that there were so many spirits living in the home,
including underworld connections and ritual abuse that it literally gave
her goosebumps. Every family that had ever lived in the home had
suffered from some sort of illness, disease, death, divorce, addiction
or mental instability. Christina claims that she wouldn't be surprised
if the ghost isn't Joan herself, due to the nature of her being capable
of the realest evil you can imagine. The family living in the Brentwood
home during the 90's allowed HBO to film a segment on Haunted Hollywood,
adding their own personal experiences to the growing list of ghostly
adventures. They claimed that the cottage by the pool was the center for
paranormal phenomenon and that they had seen a host of ghosts and other
entities parading through the house. The couple eventually moved. A new
decade has brought new life to the Crawford estate, as there have been
no more reports of ghostly activity until renovations on the estate
began in 2005. The general overall feeling from those involved is that
Joan is very angry that her wallpaper is being torn to shreds and thrown
into the dumpster. Location: 426 N. Bristol Avenue, Brentwood, California. http://www.legendaryjoancrawford.com/brentwoodhome.html

The idea that Hollywood is haunted, or that people drawn to Hollywood
are haunted because they are sensitive and artistic, is so common that
it became the basis of a television series, Celebrity Ghost Stories. Joan Rivers's account of her haunted New
York City abode is probably the most well-told story on this series and therefore
convincing (see it here).
Some stars, like Sandra Bullock, report being haunted while on location in the UK. Miley Cyrus spoke of a ghostly little boy sitting in the sink of her London apartment, and watching her while she bathed.

2 comments:

The middle picture is not Falcon Lair, but the house Valentino owned before he moved to Falcon Lair. That house was torn down in the 1950s when the Hollywood Freeway was being built. Falcon Lair was not torn down until 2012 or so.

About Me

Welcome to my blog, dedicated to the aporia, anomie, mysteries, and nervous tensions of the turn of the Millennium. I'm a writer and academic, trained in the field of history. These are my histories of things that define the spirit of our times. This blog also goes beyond historians' visions of the past, and examines how metatime and time are perceived in other media and disciplines, between generations, and in high and pop culture.